Chap. 400.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sub-sections (f), (i), (j) and (k)
of section 29 of chapter 64 of the acts of 1922, entitled an act to provide a
new charter for the city of Suffolk and to repeal the existing charter of said
city and the several acts amendatory thereof and all other acts or parts of
acts inconsistent with this act so far as they relate to the said city of Suffolk,
approved February 25, 1922. [H B 328]

Approved March 30, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sub-
sections (f), (1), (j) and (k) of section twenty-nine of chapter sixty-
four of the acts of nineteen hundred and twenty-two entitled an act to
provide a new charter for the city of Suffolk and to repeal the existing
charter of said city and the several acts amendatory thereof and all!
other acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act so far as they
relate to the said city of Suffolk, approved February twenty-fifth,
nineteen hundred and twenty-two, be amended and re-enacted so as to
read as follows:

CHAPTER 64
Section 29

(f) Jurisdiction of the civil and police justice shall be as follows:

(1) The said civil and police justice shall be a conservator of the
peace within the corporate limits of the city, and for one mile beyond
said limits, and within such limits he shall have exclusive original
jurisdiction for the trial of all offenses against the ordinances of the
city ; provided, that the city shall have the right to appeal to the circuit
court of said city from any decision of the civil and police justice
affecting the legality or validity of any ordinance passed by the council
of the city; and, within the corporate limits of said city, and for one
mile beyond such limits, he shall have concurrent jurisdiction with
the circuit court of said city and with the circuit court of Nansemond
county for the trial of all cases of the violation of the revenue and
election laws of the State. In criminal cases, he shall possess all the
jurisdiction and exercise all the power and authority now, or hereafter,
conferred by law upon a trial justice, and, except where it is otherwise
specifically provided by law, shall have exclusive original jurisdiction
for the trial of all misdemeanor cases occurring within the corporate
limits of the city and concurrent jurisdiction with the county author-
ities of offenses committed within one mile of the corporate limits; in
all of which cases the punishment shall be that which is provided by
law or ordinance.

(2) In civil cases, the civil and police justice shall possess all the
jurisdiction and exercise all the power and authority now or hereafter
conferred by law upon a trial justice. No other justice of the peace
shall hereafter exercise such criminal or civil jurisdiction as is herein
conferred on said civil and police justice, except as provided herein.
The civil and police justice shall have, within the corporate limits of
the city, exclusive original jurisdiction of any claim to specific personal
property or to any debt, fine, or other money, or to damages for breach
of contract or for any injury to the person, which would be recoverable
by action at law or suit in equity, when the amount of such claim does
not exceed the sum of three hundred dollars, and concurrent juris-
diction with the circuit court of the city of any such claim when the
amount thereof exceeds three hundred dollars but does not exceed one
thousand dollars. For the purpose of this subsection, the amount of the
claim shall include any attorney’s fee contracted for in any instrument
sued on, but shall exclude interest and costs.

(1) Procedure. All procedure in claims and proceedings of which
the civil and police justice is given jurisdiction by clause two of sub-
section (f) of this section, except so far as is herein otherwise provided,
shall conform to the procedure applicable to trial justices by general
law; except that on motion of either party the adverse party may be
required to file the particulars of the claim or the grounds of defense,
as provided in section sixty hundred and ninety-one of the Code of
Virginia, and except that the proceedings in a cause where an infant
or insane person is party shall not be stayed because of such infancy
or insanity, but the civil and police justice shall appoint some com-
petent and discreet attorney at law as guardian ad litem to such infant
or insane defendant, whether such defendant shall have been served
with the process or not; or, if no such attorney be found willing to
act, the civil and police justice shall appoint some other discreet and
proper person as guardian ad litem, who shall faithfully represent the
interest or estate of the infant or insane person for whom he is
appointed; but the said guardian ad litem so appointed shall not be
liable for costs. The civil and police justice, upon rendering any
judgment, may issue a writ of fieri facias thereon immediately, if there
be not a new trial granted, nor an appeal allowed, nor a stay of execu-
tion; and he may, from time to time, renew such writ of fieri facias
either before or after the expiration of one year from the date of the
judgment. -

(j) Appeals and removals. In all misdemeanors triable before
such civil and police justice under the provisions hereof, there shall
be an appeal from his judgment to the circuit court of the city, as is
now or may hereafter be provided by law for appeals from the judg-
ment of trial justices. An appeal may be taken to said circuit court of
the city from the judgment of said civil and police justice imposing a
penalty for any infraction of a city ordinance, except that in cases
where the penalty imposed is a fine not exceeding ten dollars, the
judgment of the civil and police justice shall be final. In any civil
case triable before such civil and police justice involving a claim to
specific personal property, or to any debt, fine or other money, or to
damages for breach of any contract, or for any injury done to property,
real or personal, or for any injury to the person when the amount
exceeds the sum of three hundred dollars, such justice shall, at any
time within ten days after the return day of the process, provided
judgment has not been rendered, but not thereafter, upon the applica-
tion of the defendant and the filing by him of the particulars of his
grounds of defense duly sworn to, and upon the payment by him of
the costs accrued to the time of removal, remove the case and all the
papers thereof to the circuit court of the city of Suffolk, and the clerk
of said court shall forthwith docket the same. On the trial of the case,
the proceedings shall conform to proceedings under section sixty hun-
dred and forty-six of the Code of Virginia, as now or hereafter
amended. In all cases where the amount involved, exclusive of interest,
is over twenty dollars, there shall be an appeal of right to the circuit
court of the city and such appeals, as to procedure, shall be governed
by section thirty-one hundred and six of the Code of Virginia, as now
or hereafter amended, but no appeal shall be granted unless and until
the party applying for the same has given bond in such amount and
with such surety as is approved by said civil and police justice to abide
the judgment of the court upon the appeal. The clerk of the circuit
court of the city, upon receipt of the papers in any such appeal case,
shall, upon payment of the writ tax, forthwith docket such case in its
regular order; but if said writ tax be not so paid within thirty days
from the date of the judgment, the said appeal shall thereupon stand
dismissed and said judgment shall become final, and the said papers,
upon application of any party in interest, shall be returned to the civil
and police justice by the clerk of said circuit court of the city. Appeal
cases shall not have preference in such circuit court of the city, as
regards time of trial. In no civil case triable before the civil and police
justice, shall a removal to any court be allowed except as herein
provided. In appeals and removals, the amount of the claim or the
amount involved shall include any attorney’s fee contracted for in
any instrument sued on, but shall exclude interest and costs.

(k) Dismissal of claims; docket. If any claim of which the civil
and police justice is given jurisdiction by clause two of subsection (f)
of this section shall have been pending before him sixty days, he shall
notify the parties, or their counsel, that the same will be dismissed in
ten days thereafter unless good cause be shown to the contrary, and,
unless such cause be shown within said ten days, such civil and police
justice shall forthwith dismiss such claim.

The civil and police justice shall keep a docket in which shall be
entered all cases, civil and criminal, tried and prosecuted before him,
and the final disposition of the same.

All papers connected with any of the proceedings in the trial of
cases before the civil and police justice, except such as may be removed
on appeal or removal and except also such papers in criminal matters
as are required by law to be returned to and lodged in the clerk’s
office of the circuit court of the city, shall be properly indexed and
filed and preserved.